Training Log Archive: BorisGrIn the 30 days ending Apr 30, 2007:
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Monday Apr 30, 2007 #
Orienteering 49:24 [3] *** 7.3 km (6:46 / km)
23c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Ukraine Training Camp Day 1 PM
After getting up bright and early in the morning, I arrived in Kiev (Kyiv? Kiiv?) together with Rob, Julian, Shep, Troy, and the Australian team coach Brett Weihart for a week of training in WOC-relevant terrain and experiencing the phenomenon that is post-Soviet Ukraine. The goal of the camp was not so much to run up a ton of hours, but rather to run on many different maps and get an idea of what racing at WOC might feel like. For the whole week, we lived in a hotel on the Western edge of Kiev, complete with eggs and mystery dumplings for breakfast, as well as a wide selection of hookers advertising their goods and services at affordable prices just a few steps away from the hotel.
For our first training, we ran around a course on Dubni, a long-and-relay-relevant map, at an easy pace and mostly as a group. The forest was fast and runnable, with a lot of paths and some steep, but not very high, gullies to make for interesting route choices. Additionally, the forest featured a large variety of homeless dogs and puppies, as well as dozens of campfires started by the intrepid natives right in the middle of the woods.
After getting up bright and early in the morning, I arrived in Kiev (Kyiv? Kiiv?) together with Rob, Julian, Shep, Troy, and the Australian team coach Brett Weihart for a week of training in WOC-relevant terrain and experiencing the phenomenon that is post-Soviet Ukraine. The goal of the camp was not so much to run up a ton of hours, but rather to run on many different maps and get an idea of what racing at WOC might feel like. For the whole week, we lived in a hotel on the Western edge of Kiev, complete with eggs and mystery dumplings for breakfast, as well as a wide selection of hookers advertising their goods and services at affordable prices just a few steps away from the hotel.
For our first training, we ran around a course on Dubni, a long-and-relay-relevant map, at an easy pace and mostly as a group. The forest was fast and runnable, with a lot of paths and some steep, but not very high, gullies to make for interesting route choices. Additionally, the forest featured a large variety of homeless dogs and puppies, as well as dozens of campfires started by the intrepid natives right in the middle of the woods.
Sunday Apr 29, 2007 #
Running 20:00 [2] 2.35 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warming up and cooling down for Tiomila.
Orienteering race 31:40 [5] *** 5.55 km (5:42 / km)
spiked:13/15c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Tiomila 2007.
Running the unforked 9th leg for OK Linne's 2nd team. Went out in 47th place, about 10 seconds after a pack of 4-5 guys. Ran hard and caught them and got a break when they screwed up the first control, allowing me to catch my breath a bit. Messing up #2 and running right by #3 were not parts of the plan, but I just managed to hang on to the back of the pack and get back into the race. Spent some time reading ahead on the trails and gradually worked my way to the front of the pack towards the end, passing all but one of the guys in it, as well as a guy from Kalevan Rasti's 2nd team, meaning that I exchanged to Lasso with us as the best 2nd team at Tiomila and 41st overall. I was 32nd on my leg, less than 5 minutes down on the best time. I was fairly pleased with my run and very, very pleased with the club's results at Tiomila: the girls came 4th, the guys' first team 5th, and we ended up as the best 2nd team, and 40th overall. This is a great time to be at Linne!
Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Team results: http://www.10mila.se/2007/resultat/h_lag.shtml
Running the unforked 9th leg for OK Linne's 2nd team. Went out in 47th place, about 10 seconds after a pack of 4-5 guys. Ran hard and caught them and got a break when they screwed up the first control, allowing me to catch my breath a bit. Messing up #2 and running right by #3 were not parts of the plan, but I just managed to hang on to the back of the pack and get back into the race. Spent some time reading ahead on the trails and gradually worked my way to the front of the pack towards the end, passing all but one of the guys in it, as well as a guy from Kalevan Rasti's 2nd team, meaning that I exchanged to Lasso with us as the best 2nd team at Tiomila and 41st overall. I was 32nd on my leg, less than 5 minutes down on the best time. I was fairly pleased with my run and very, very pleased with the club's results at Tiomila: the girls came 4th, the guys' first team 5th, and we ended up as the best 2nd team, and 40th overall. This is a great time to be at Linne!
Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Team results: http://www.10mila.se/2007/resultat/h_lag.shtml
Saturday Apr 28, 2007 #
Event: Tiomila 2007
Running 27:30 [2] 3.44 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Morning jog around the horse loop in Stadsskogen with MrPither.
Running 6:00 [1]
Strides on grass after the run.
Friday Apr 27, 2007 #
Running 10:00 [2] 1.25 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Jogging to Eriksberg and back
Orienteering 15:00 [3] 1.5 km (10:00 / km)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Following MrPither as he ran around the DxDeluxe course from last fall. Ran into Mats and Jörgen hanging around outside. Mats must have been amused to see us running his courses...
Thursday Apr 26, 2007 #
Running 45:43 [2] 5.71 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Morning jog with MrPither around Stadsskogen.
Running 40:00 [2] 4.71 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Running from KG to the start and back, jogging between intervals, moving a control we had mishung. Oops.
Orienteering 34:34 [4] *** 4.5 km (7:41 / km)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Orienteering intervals on Nåsten that Patrick and I had hung on Monday. Was a bit sloppy at times and didn't feel particularly fast, but managed to push hard most of the time. Another beautiful day: +23C. After school, just went out and lay on the grass in the sun for a while, first time this spring!
Wednesday Apr 25, 2007 #
T.rex training 1:00:00 [2]
At F&S with MrPither in the morning.
C • Gym 1
Orienteering 1:19:36 [3] **** 10.3 km (7:44 / km)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Wednesday Night-O on North Lunsen. Great weather, great course, great terrain. Really enjoyable run on the long course. Started off with butterfly loops together with people running the short course, so a bit of head-to-head racing. Then headed off on the long legs and didn't see anyone for a long time, just running along, reading the map, enjoying the terrain at a cruisey pace. No big mistakes, though went off my bearing a couple of times in the green bits.
Route gadget: http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...
Route gadget: http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...
Tuesday Apr 24, 2007 #
Running 40:00 [2] 4.44 mi (9:01 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Warm-up, cool-down, and jogging between intervals.
Running 10:00 [2]
shoes: Saucony 2006
Secret Russian Running Drills.
Running 13:30 [5] 2.45 mi (5:31 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
"Formtoppning intervals" with Linne on the Norby lit track. Did (90 sec hard, 60 rest, 45 hard, 2 rest)*6. Struggling a bit in the beginning with the sort-of cold I have sort-of had the last week and a half, but felt better as the intervals went on.
MrPither was flying!
MrPither was flying!
Monday Apr 23, 2007 #
Running 20:00 [2] 2.5 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Running to the start from the clubhouse and back.
Orienteering 55:54 [2] 3.73 km (14:59 / km)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
MrPither is in town! So, jet-lagged and all, he was dragged along by me to hang flags for this Thursday's training on Nåsten. Nice and wet in the forest, plus we found some of the bits that burned down a few weeks ago.
Training was followed by an OK Linne pre-Tiomila male bonding night, which consisted of bowling and pizza. Nothing too wild, but cool to have the boys all together outside of an orienteering context. Also cool that 8 of the 10 first-team runners showed up (the other two live away from Uppsala). I think that means a lot to the rest of us (or at least to me) that they don't think of themselves as too good to socialize with us. Don't know if it's like this in the other big clubs, but I like the way it is here.
Training was followed by an OK Linne pre-Tiomila male bonding night, which consisted of bowling and pizza. Nothing too wild, but cool to have the boys all together outside of an orienteering context. Also cool that 8 of the 10 first-team runners showed up (the other two live away from Uppsala). I think that means a lot to the rest of us (or at least to me) that they don't think of themselves as too good to socialize with us. Don't know if it's like this in the other big clubs, but I like the way it is here.
Sunday Apr 22, 2007 #
Running 15:00 [2] 1.76 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up
Orienteering race 46:27 [5] **** 6.1 km (7:37 / km) +230m 6:24 / km
spiked:16/20c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Elisterien Blekinge, Middle Distance.
I was dead tired after yesterday, and the 50m climb straight up to the first control didn't exactly help, but spiking it did. Still, I didn't have great focus the first half of the course. I let myself drift off the line in the green on #3, run right by the right boulder and not turn my head to see the flag at 6, and leave the control at a bad angle and pay the price at 9. At that point I was caught by the guy who started four minutes back, and suddenly, focus was back on and the legs felt good again. After hitting number 10 and watching him run past it, the control flow was back, and I orienteered very cleanly the rest of the way in, staying ahead of this guy all the way through. In the end, watched Mats blow by with Andrey Khramov on his tail, both flying full-speed: a cool sight!
This was, all in all, a disappointing week-end, but it was nice to finish off well, with the same feeling during the second half of yesterday's course that I had during the JK middle race.
Rob had a great run and won my course, and it was fun to see so many fine runs from the Linne guys in Elite 1: 4 men in the top 18!
Results: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
I was dead tired after yesterday, and the 50m climb straight up to the first control didn't exactly help, but spiking it did. Still, I didn't have great focus the first half of the course. I let myself drift off the line in the green on #3, run right by the right boulder and not turn my head to see the flag at 6, and leave the control at a bad angle and pay the price at 9. At that point I was caught by the guy who started four minutes back, and suddenly, focus was back on and the legs felt good again. After hitting number 10 and watching him run past it, the control flow was back, and I orienteered very cleanly the rest of the way in, staying ahead of this guy all the way through. In the end, watched Mats blow by with Andrey Khramov on his tail, both flying full-speed: a cool sight!
This was, all in all, a disappointing week-end, but it was nice to finish off well, with the same feeling during the second half of yesterday's course that I had during the JK middle race.
Rob had a great run and won my course, and it was fun to see so many fine runs from the Linne guys in Elite 1: 4 men in the top 18!
Results: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Saturday Apr 21, 2007 #
Running 15:00 [2] 1.76 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up
C • Fame 1
Orienteering race 2:05:41 [4] **** 14.9 km (8:26 / km) +360m 7:32 / km
spiked:15/24c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Elitserien Blekinge, Long Distance
My modest goal for the day was to not come last, this being one of the strongest start fields I've ever run against, and the course promising to be quite brutal. The course was brutal. I met my goal, but just barely: 2nd last. Not a good day at all: in total, about 15 minutes of mistakes in the tough, rocky woods, easily my worst run this spring. It's funny how quickly self-confidence can disappear: I cam back to Sweden after the JK feeling strong and good about my orienteering, feeling like I had actually made some progress over the winter. Two weeks and a few races in Sweden later, all of that is gone, and I feel like I'm back to square one. All in all, today was pretty humbling.
Our Tiomila teams will be announced after this week-end. I will be deeply disappointed, but not surprised, if I end up in the 3rd team.
My modest goal for the day was to not come last, this being one of the strongest start fields I've ever run against, and the course promising to be quite brutal. The course was brutal. I met my goal, but just barely: 2nd last. Not a good day at all: in total, about 15 minutes of mistakes in the tough, rocky woods, easily my worst run this spring. It's funny how quickly self-confidence can disappear: I cam back to Sweden after the JK feeling strong and good about my orienteering, feeling like I had actually made some progress over the winter. Two weeks and a few races in Sweden later, all of that is gone, and I feel like I'm back to square one. All in all, today was pretty humbling.
Our Tiomila teams will be announced after this week-end. I will be deeply disappointed, but not surprised, if I end up in the 3rd team.
Running 11:50 [2] 1.39 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Afternoon jog from the hostel to clear my head and cheer myself up.
Oh yeah, results from today: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Scroll down to the bottom to find me.
Oh yeah, results from today: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Scroll down to the bottom to find me.
Friday Apr 20, 2007 #
Running 25:01 [2] 3.13 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Morning jog in Stadsskogen on a very cold and windy Uppsala day. Some snow/hail still on the ground.
Running 4:00 [5]
A few strides on the grass after the run.
Note
Today's entry in Aspleaf's blog was a particularly interesting one, I thought:
http://aspleaf.blogspot.com/
http://aspleaf.blogspot.com/
Thursday Apr 19, 2007 #
Running 25:45 [2] 3.43 mi (7:30 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Morning jog in the cold drizzle.
Running 13:32 [3] 1.93 mi (7:01 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
This I hadn't seen before! Hail was coming down in hard little cannonballs, thunder and lighting were almost overhead, and here I was, thinking "there is no such thing as bad weather, only wusses afraid of running in it." By the time i actually set off, there was easily two inches of solid hail on the ground and another inch or two on the way down. People looked at me like a madman as I ran along to the clubhouse, but somehow I was certain I wouldn't be the only one to show up to training today.
Running 7:30 [5] 1.15 mi (6:31 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
There ended up being about fifteen of us, mostly soaked to the bone even before we got to Sten Sture for the hill intervals. The work-out itself was uphill sprints, 45 seconds each, ideally reaching the same spot every time, with the jog down as rest. The hill was steep, the trail covered in a mix of smushed hail and mud, so this did not go quickly nor easily. I started out really feeling the soreness in my legs from the last couple of days, but felt better and better as the intervals went on. Ended up doing 10 of them, no one managed more. Quite dead afterwards.
Running 46:00 [2] 5.11 mi (9:00 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Jogging from KG to Sten Sture, from Sten Sture home, and between intervals.
Running 10:00 [1]
Secret Russian Running Drills.
Wednesday Apr 18, 2007 #
Running 10:00 [2] 1.25 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up and a dejected cool-down.
Orienteering race 49:48 [5] *** 7.87 km (6:20 / km)
spiked:9/16c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OK Linne Tiomila Test, on Ängsjo, just north of Stockholm.
I felt very stiff all day because of going a bit hard with the weights the day before, and stupidly attempted to compensate for what felt like slow running by pushing myself harder. Not surprisingly, this led to bone-headed mistakes all over the place in this relatively simple and fast terrain. Once again, a disappointment.
Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
For comparison, splits for the guys who ran this course at night:
http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Routegadget:
http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...
I felt very stiff all day because of going a bit hard with the weights the day before, and stupidly attempted to compensate for what felt like slow running by pushing myself harder. Not surprisingly, this led to bone-headed mistakes all over the place in this relatively simple and fast terrain. Once again, a disappointment.
Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
For comparison, splits for the guys who ran this course at night:
http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Routegadget:
http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...
Tuesday Apr 17, 2007 #
T.rex training 1:00:00 [2]
weight:163lbs
Morning weights at F&S. Felt good, worked hard.
Running 20:00 [3] 2.86 mi (7:00 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Running to the start with Julian Dent, then running to the start again between the two courses, and then jogging the last couple of controls.
C • Dent 2
Orienteering 44:18 [4] *** 5.5 km (8:03 / km)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Pre-running the middle distance courses for Linne's national event at Salinge this week-end after getting very lost trying to get there. I got the H50 course (middle distance). My plan today was to run a short course hard two times (I found this to be good training - it's cool to see how much time you lose navigating the first time and also nice to get the feeling of running hard and, hopefully, spiking controls the second time), and this course was a bit longer than I wanted, so I only ran the first 6 controls (2.75km) hard. Made some mistakes the first time, and got stuck in some green the second time, but ok otherwise.
Splits: 22:59, 21:19.
Splits: 22:59, 21:19.
Monday Apr 16, 2007 #
Running 1:07:15 [2] 7.91 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
An easy run mostly on the Nåsten trails, getting there and back via the straight gravel road on the north of the map. I forgot how boring it was to run without a map in your hands...
Running 6:00 [5]
Strides on the grass next to my house after running
Sunday Apr 15, 2007 #
Event: Rånässtafetten, Relay
Running 20:00 [2] 2.5 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up, cool-down
Orienteering race 37:40 [5] *** 6.0 km (6:17 / km)
spiked:8/13c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Rånässtafetten, OK Linne 3rd team. By the time I started, Mats had already asserted Linne 1st team's domination on the second leg, with Rob Hart handing off to me in 9th, with a sizeable pack of runners starting at the same time as me. Well, after a series of races I've been happy with recently, I was due for a disappointment, and here it came. I stayed with the pack in the beginning and kept having different forkings from everyone in that pack and had to run hard to rejoin them on the common legs after finding my controls until on the 5th control I finally came to a control on the other fork... It took about a minute to relocate, and by then the pack was gone. I followed with a beginner's mistake of running too hard and lost another minute on the next leg. Then I settled in and ran well for a few controls before being passed by Tomas Dlabaja on a long leg. I stupidly tried staying with him, since that meant basically running all out and only occasionally looking at the map. Sure enough, he was on a different fork, and there goes another lost minute. After losing 45 seconds more on the second-to-last control, the finish chute finally put me out of my misery and I handed off to Olof Borell in 15th place, having lost 6 spots...
My teammates ran well in the end and we finished 12th, with the 2nd Linne team coming 8th, and the 1st one winning in dominant fashion.
Results: http://www.ranasok.se/ranasstafetten/res_staf07.ht...
Splits for my forking: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
AspLövet's musings on how Jan Troeng runs so fast: http://aspleaf.blogspot.com/2007/04/vilken-jvla-vi...
My teammates ran well in the end and we finished 12th, with the 2nd Linne team coming 8th, and the 1st one winning in dominant fashion.
Results: http://www.ranasok.se/ranasstafetten/res_staf07.ht...
Splits for my forking: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
AspLövet's musings on how Jan Troeng runs so fast: http://aspleaf.blogspot.com/2007/04/vilken-jvla-vi...
Saturday Apr 14, 2007 #
Running 25:00 [2] 3.13 mi (7:59 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Did a longish warm-up to wake up the body.
Orienteering race 30:24 [4] *** 4.54 km (6:42 / km)
spiked:9/15c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Lännasprinten, running H21 because my ranking isn't good enough for elite.
The course wasn't too difficult, but lots of branches and cut-down trees underfoot and hidden controls made this a bit more challenging. On several controls I came right to the feature and couldn't find the flag because it was either tucked into a corner or hidden by a bush or something. Very irritating and not good for flow at all. Probably lost a total of about 1:50 for the course. Felt ok running, but not as good as last week-end: the cold must have taken a bit of a toll. Ended up 4th on H21 out of 98 starters, which is kind of cool. Still, would rather have run elite.
Results: http://www.svenskidrott.se/Downloads/29292/docs/Pr...
Splits:
http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
The course wasn't too difficult, but lots of branches and cut-down trees underfoot and hidden controls made this a bit more challenging. On several controls I came right to the feature and couldn't find the flag because it was either tucked into a corner or hidden by a bush or something. Very irritating and not good for flow at all. Probably lost a total of about 1:50 for the course. Felt ok running, but not as good as last week-end: the cold must have taken a bit of a toll. Ended up 4th on H21 out of 98 starters, which is kind of cool. Still, would rather have run elite.
Results: http://www.svenskidrott.se/Downloads/29292/docs/Pr...
Splits:
http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Friday Apr 13, 2007 #
Note
A few thoughts after the JK. In the winter, I decided that the JK would be my big benchmark event of the spring, and I treated it as my most important individual competition of the season. My goals coming in were top 20 overall and top 10 on my relay leg. I ended up 15th overall, 7th on my relay leg. Since I also ran the JK last year, and the strength of field was quite similar, it's good to compare last year's form with this year's. Last year I was 29th overall and 18th on my relay leg (also first leg.) Noticeable improvement. I also remember last year being really impressed by how well Hammer ran at the JK and wishing I could run like that one day. Well, last year he came 22nd and 16th in the two races, compared to my 19th and 18th this year. Quite similar, which is also encouraging. Anyway, the point of this self-congratulatory musing is to say that I have finally convinced myself that this whole living in Sweden thing is paying off so far. Still a long way to go till a WOC final becomes reality, but it's progress...
Note
(rest day)
Taking a day off to hopefully put an end to the cold I've had the last couple of days.
Thursday Apr 12, 2007 #
Orienteering 24:14 [2] 2.42 km (10:01 / km)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Technique training on Hagby. I started off by running a contours-only line-O. It was really fun and went pretty well. I felt a lot more comfortable with Swedish woods than I did yesterday.
Orienteering 45:46 [3] *** 5.86 km (7:49 / km)
spiked:8/11c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
After the line-O, I ran a normal course on a contours-only map. The orienteering felt almost easier than it normally does on a full-color map. At the very least, contours were a lot easier to read. Of course, route choice becomes harder this way, since you don't know if the large contourless area in the middle of the leg will be a fast, open field, a clear-cut area, or a deadly swamp.
Wednesday Apr 11, 2007 #
Orienteering 47:19 [3] *** 5.5 km (8:36 / km)
spiked:11/13c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Got back to Uppsala with a whole hour left before training, so of course I had to go. This one was on Åland, a nice but little-used map about a half-hour's drive to the WNW. I did the short course and took it pretty easy (medium pace), but still managed to make two mistakes early on, while getting reacquainted with Swedish woods and mapping. After that, things went better and I had some nice flow going towards the end.
I've also been feeling on the verge of being sick the last day or two. Will try to fight it off before the weekend's races.
I've also been feeling on the verge of being sick the last day or two. Will try to fight it off before the weekend's races.
Tuesday Apr 10, 2007 #
Note
(rest day)
Spent the day wandering around Kew Gardens in London with Kat followed by dinner at Abi and Matthias' apartment and checking out Matthias' impressive, 30-strong, collection of orienteering books, mostly acquired on E-Bay. He also has an orienteering board game, Route Choice, apparently made by Silva before the dawn of time. Pretty cool.
Monday Apr 9, 2007 #
Note
Results from the JK can be found at http://www.jk2007.org.uk/
I am pleased. More when I am back in Uppsala.
I am pleased. More when I am back in Uppsala.
Orienteering race 36:25 [5] *** 6.4 km (5:41 / km) +135m 5:09 / km
spiked:22/24c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
JK 2007 Relay.
Caerwent military training area, a weird mix of fields with lots of fences and earth works and thorny green woods.
Team Oxford: Boris - Scott Collier (lost on AP) - SGB (sgb on AP) - Ian Webb (distracted on AP).
Standing on the starting line, I felt totally intimidated by the stars standing next to me at the start and dead from the race the day before. Predictably, I felt pretty awful in the beginning, but managed to avoid mistakes and stayed with the pack through the second bit of woods, where I suddenly found myself alone for a little while. When I came out of the woods, I saw a pack of David Roome, Allan Bogle, Andrew Llewellyn, and a couple of others ahead of me and ran hard to catch them. Ended up running with them for a while, the pack splitting and joining again after forkings. In the end, David and I got a bit ahead on a route choice, and Ralph Street, a junior from SLOW who is a dead ringer for Swisschees, passed me in the finish chute. Ended up 7th, which I was quite pleased with, 3 minutes off Graham Gristwood's winning time, and ahead of some of the stars I had been scared off. Our team ended up 24th in the end, and the OUOC girls a very solid 9th.
Results: http://www.cix.co.uk/~neper/jk2007/day4/classa.htm
Caerwent military training area, a weird mix of fields with lots of fences and earth works and thorny green woods.
Team Oxford: Boris - Scott Collier (lost on AP) - SGB (sgb on AP) - Ian Webb (distracted on AP).
Standing on the starting line, I felt totally intimidated by the stars standing next to me at the start and dead from the race the day before. Predictably, I felt pretty awful in the beginning, but managed to avoid mistakes and stayed with the pack through the second bit of woods, where I suddenly found myself alone for a little while. When I came out of the woods, I saw a pack of David Roome, Allan Bogle, Andrew Llewellyn, and a couple of others ahead of me and ran hard to catch them. Ended up running with them for a while, the pack splitting and joining again after forkings. In the end, David and I got a bit ahead on a route choice, and Ralph Street, a junior from SLOW who is a dead ringer for Swisschees, passed me in the finish chute. Ended up 7th, which I was quite pleased with, 3 minutes off Graham Gristwood's winning time, and ahead of some of the stars I had been scared off. Our team ended up 24th in the end, and the OUOC girls a very solid 9th.
Results: http://www.cix.co.uk/~neper/jk2007/day4/classa.htm
Note
The JK was a fantastic week-end of orienteering with a great format and a really good atmosphere. I felt like the event really lived up to its name - the JK _Festival_ of Orienteering. It really felt like a festival, or celebration, of our sport. Way to go, organizers!
Sunday Apr 8, 2007 #
Running 20:00 [2] 2.22 mi (9:01 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up and a shuffle for a cool-down: Kat could easily keep up with me walking as I cooled down.
Orienteering race 1:48:56 [4] *** 15.9 km (6:51 / km) +575m 5:48 / km
spiked:25/32c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
JK 2007 Classic Distance.
A monster of a race on two parts of the Forest of Dean, known as New Beechenhurst and The Pludds. How do the Brits come up with these names???
I decided to just run hard from the start and hope not to crash too badly later on in the race. From personal experience, I know that if I try taking it easy from the start and trying to save energy till the end, I just never manage to get into racing mode.
It went well early on, with about 1:30 lost on The Pludds, before we had a break. That's right. This race, a World Ranking Event, no less, included a road crossing for which you were allotted 2 minutes which were subtracted from the final time. This is so weird! Can you imagine a marathon race with a 2 minute break in the middle??? The rationale for this is that the runners don't rush across the road and get themselves killed, but couldn't they just have the marshals halt traffic for a few seconds when runners came?
Anyway, although I had prepared myself for this, I still lost concentration after the break and ran without a plan to the next control, losing a minute or so. It went better after that, and I only had another 1-2 minutes of errors over the next 13 controls through the spectator control, including no mistakes on one weird hill with lots and lots of contour detail on it. There were lots of people looking very lost there. After the spectator control I got very tired and forced myself to take very safe route choices, which mostly worked well, though I still blew two controls. I was happy to see and punch the last control and was all set to jog into the finish, when Jenny Johnson, the women's winner, came sprinting up behind me, forcing me to run hard to avoid being girled in the finish chute...
All in all, about 6-7 minutes of mistakes for the whole course and a pretty strong run physically.
Ended up 18th this time, about 1 min/km slower than Oli Johnson, who was by far the best on the day.
Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/default.a...
Route gadget: http://www.jk2007.routegadget.co.uk/cgi-bin/reitti...
A monster of a race on two parts of the Forest of Dean, known as New Beechenhurst and The Pludds. How do the Brits come up with these names???
I decided to just run hard from the start and hope not to crash too badly later on in the race. From personal experience, I know that if I try taking it easy from the start and trying to save energy till the end, I just never manage to get into racing mode.
It went well early on, with about 1:30 lost on The Pludds, before we had a break. That's right. This race, a World Ranking Event, no less, included a road crossing for which you were allotted 2 minutes which were subtracted from the final time. This is so weird! Can you imagine a marathon race with a 2 minute break in the middle??? The rationale for this is that the runners don't rush across the road and get themselves killed, but couldn't they just have the marshals halt traffic for a few seconds when runners came?
Anyway, although I had prepared myself for this, I still lost concentration after the break and ran without a plan to the next control, losing a minute or so. It went better after that, and I only had another 1-2 minutes of errors over the next 13 controls through the spectator control, including no mistakes on one weird hill with lots and lots of contour detail on it. There were lots of people looking very lost there. After the spectator control I got very tired and forced myself to take very safe route choices, which mostly worked well, though I still blew two controls. I was happy to see and punch the last control and was all set to jog into the finish, when Jenny Johnson, the women's winner, came sprinting up behind me, forcing me to run hard to avoid being girled in the finish chute...
All in all, about 6-7 minutes of mistakes for the whole course and a pretty strong run physically.
Ended up 18th this time, about 1 min/km slower than Oli Johnson, who was by far the best on the day.
Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/default.a...
Route gadget: http://www.jk2007.routegadget.co.uk/cgi-bin/reitti...
Saturday Apr 7, 2007 #
Running 30:00 [2] 3.53 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up, cool-down.
Orienteering race 37:42 [5] *** 6.2 km (6:05 / km) +255m 5:03 / km
spiked:16/18c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
JK 2007 Middle Distance.
A hilly, but fast middle race in the Forest of Dean. I was careful to the first control, spiked it, climbed the first hill on the way to #2 and realized that I felt great. It was just one of those races when the controls keep appearing exactly when you want them to and you feel like you are flying. I did make one real mistake, losing about 35 seconds on #6 when I got distracted by Paul Nixon, whom I had caught, and went off my bearing. After that the race went well. Looking at splits, the only places I lost time after #6 were controls on which I intentionally slowed down on the approach - controls on charcoal platforms in the middle of featureless slopes. As I ran down the finish chute, I heard the announcer say something like "And here is a respectable time by an American," which I was amused by. I actually took the lead when I finished, but that lasted about a minute until Marcus Pinker came in with a much better time. I ended up 19th, which doesn't sound too impressive, but this was kind of race I could not have run even a year ago, so I am happy.
Splits: http://www.cix.co.uk/~neper/jk2007/day2/crse1.htm
A hilly, but fast middle race in the Forest of Dean. I was careful to the first control, spiked it, climbed the first hill on the way to #2 and realized that I felt great. It was just one of those races when the controls keep appearing exactly when you want them to and you feel like you are flying. I did make one real mistake, losing about 35 seconds on #6 when I got distracted by Paul Nixon, whom I had caught, and went off my bearing. After that the race went well. Looking at splits, the only places I lost time after #6 were controls on which I intentionally slowed down on the approach - controls on charcoal platforms in the middle of featureless slopes. As I ran down the finish chute, I heard the announcer say something like "And here is a respectable time by an American," which I was amused by. I actually took the lead when I finished, but that lasted about a minute until Marcus Pinker came in with a much better time. I ended up 19th, which doesn't sound too impressive, but this was kind of race I could not have run even a year ago, so I am happy.
Splits: http://www.cix.co.uk/~neper/jk2007/day2/crse1.htm
Friday Apr 6, 2007 #
Event: JK 2007
Running 25:36 [2] 3.2 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Morning jog with Kat to Port Meadow and back, in Oxford.
Running 20:00 [2] 2.5 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Warm-up / cool-down
Orienteering race 14:43 [5] *** 2.95 km (4:59 / km) +70m 4:28 / km
spiked:19/20c shoes: Saucony 2006
JK 2007 Sprint.
Not very eventful - a nice, fast sprint course around the University of West England campus. Not too technical, meaning you had to run hard the whole way. I made one major parallel error on an easy leg, losing about 40 seconds. Ended up 40th overall out of 200+ starters on the men's open course. Definitely felt like top speed wasn't there - a direct result of a lack of short, fast intervals and more focusing on strength and endurance this winter.
Winsplits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/default.a...
Route gadget:
http://www.jk2007.routegadget.co.uk/cgi-bin/reitti...
Not very eventful - a nice, fast sprint course around the University of West England campus. Not too technical, meaning you had to run hard the whole way. I made one major parallel error on an easy leg, losing about 40 seconds. Ended up 40th overall out of 200+ starters on the men's open course. Definitely felt like top speed wasn't there - a direct result of a lack of short, fast intervals and more focusing on strength and endurance this winter.
Winsplits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/default.a...
Route gadget:
http://www.jk2007.routegadget.co.uk/cgi-bin/reitti...
Thursday Apr 5, 2007 #
Orienteering 55:56 [2] 6.4 km (8:44 / km)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
OUOC Lakes Training Camp. Day 4.
This training day was on the way (more-or-less) between the Lakes and Oxford, on Cannock Chase, site of JK 2005. I hanged one of the two courses Joe designed. Had some trouble, since we were told the map was a 1:10, but it clearly was not. About halfway through I convinced myself it was 1:15, and things went better. Indeed, it was.
This training day was on the way (more-or-less) between the Lakes and Oxford, on Cannock Chase, site of JK 2005. I hanged one of the two courses Joe designed. Had some trouble, since we were told the map was a 1:10, but it clearly was not. About halfway through I convinced myself it was 1:15, and things went better. Indeed, it was.
Orienteering 13:58 [5] *** 2.3 km (6:04 / km)
spiked:8/9c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
OUOC Lakes Training Camp. Day 4.
After a break, ran a piece of the other course on a contours-only map at race pace. Had no real problems navigating, but the legs did feel a bit tired.
After a break, ran a piece of the other course on a contours-only map at race pace. Had no real problems navigating, but the legs did feel a bit tired.
Wednesday Apr 4, 2007 #
Running 10:00 [2] 1.0 mi (10:00 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
OUOC Lakes Training Camp. Day 3.
Jogging to the start at Big Land.
Jogging to the start at Big Land.
Orienteering 45:55 [3] *** 4.59 km (10:00 / km)
spiked:17/23c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
OUOC Lakes Training Camp. Day 3.
The plan for today was to take it easy on this technical area, where Joe set a course with a focus on slope orienteering, in other words being forced to pay attention to how much you've climbed or dropped on lots of the legs. I ran this without a compass and really enjoyed the terrain. Orienteered ok for the most part, though did catch myself leaving controls in the slightly wrong direction a couple of times.
The plan for today was to take it easy on this technical area, where Joe set a course with a focus on slope orienteering, in other words being forced to pay attention to how much you've climbed or dropped on lots of the legs. I ran this without a compass and really enjoyed the terrain. Orienteered ok for the most part, though did catch myself leaving controls in the slightly wrong direction a couple of times.
Sheep Chasing 1:00 [5]
Yes, there is a video of this one someplace too.
Tuesday Apr 3, 2007 #
Running 12:35 [2] 1.48 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
OUOC Lakes Training Camp. Day 2.
Got up for a morning jog with the OUOC ladies - Kat, Helen, and Alison Crocker, a former Dartmouth skier/rower/runner who has rediscovered orienteering at Oxford. We ended up in the middle of a flock of sheep, with the ones in front of us running away and the ones behind us trying to rejoin their comrades. It was very funny - sheep in front, runners in the middle, sheep in the back, all running in the same direction and making strange noises.
Got up for a morning jog with the OUOC ladies - Kat, Helen, and Alison Crocker, a former Dartmouth skier/rower/runner who has rediscovered orienteering at Oxford. We ended up in the middle of a flock of sheep, with the ones in front of us running away and the ones behind us trying to rejoin their comrades. It was very funny - sheep in front, runners in the middle, sheep in the back, all running in the same direction and making strange noises.
Orienteering 17:04 [4] *** 2.45 km (6:58 / km) +170m 5:10 / km
spiked:10/13c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OUOC Lakes Training Camp. Day 2.
Running a short course of Graythwaite hard.
Running a short course of Graythwaite hard.
Orienteering 15:21 [4] *** 2.3 km (6:40 / km)
spiked:12/13c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OUOC Lakes Training Camp. Day 2.
Running the same course again after a break, to see how much I could improve. The answer, obviously, is quite a bit.
Running the same course again after a break, to see how much I could improve. The answer, obviously, is quite a bit.
Orienteering 25:00 [2] 2.08 km (12:01 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OUOC Lakes Training Camp. Day 2.
Hanging some controls with Luke McNeill after lunch.
Hanging some controls with Luke McNeill after lunch.
Orienteering 21:01 [5] 3.5 km (6:00 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OUOC Lakes Training Camp. Day 2.
The day's last training was a Peg Relay - same thing that the Swedes call Nypjakt, or clothespin hunt. I described this exercise the last time I did it, but here it is again: Everyone is mass-started and has the same course, and at every control hang between 3-5 pieces of colorful tape. If you are one of the first three people to get to that control, you take a piece of tape and then run to an extra control, drawn on the map in a different color from the regular course. After that extra control you proceed to the next regular control, thus running somewhat more than the people who didn't get the pin. This continues all the way through the course, and the person with the most pins in the end wins.
I ended up winning this peg relay by using a bit of sneakiness: i deliberately avoided getting a tape at the first control, because the extra leg on this one involved a very steep 30m climb. Skipping this tape allowed me to get enough of a lead on the fast guys who went for it so I could collect the next three tapes, which turned out to be enough for the win. A really fun training, culminating in a mad downhill sprint against Joe Mercer and Ben Stevens in the end. I gotta learn to fly downhill like those guys!
The day's last training was a Peg Relay - same thing that the Swedes call Nypjakt, or clothespin hunt. I described this exercise the last time I did it, but here it is again: Everyone is mass-started and has the same course, and at every control hang between 3-5 pieces of colorful tape. If you are one of the first three people to get to that control, you take a piece of tape and then run to an extra control, drawn on the map in a different color from the regular course. After that extra control you proceed to the next regular control, thus running somewhat more than the people who didn't get the pin. This continues all the way through the course, and the person with the most pins in the end wins.
I ended up winning this peg relay by using a bit of sneakiness: i deliberately avoided getting a tape at the first control, because the extra leg on this one involved a very steep 30m climb. Skipping this tape allowed me to get enough of a lead on the fast guys who went for it so I could collect the next three tapes, which turned out to be enough for the win. A really fun training, culminating in a mad downhill sprint against Joe Mercer and Ben Stevens in the end. I gotta learn to fly downhill like those guys!
Monday Apr 2, 2007 #
Orienteering 41:05 [2] **** 4.11 km (10:00 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OUOC Lakes Training Camp. Day 1.
A beautiful day on a treeless, runnable, hilly, and detailed area called Loughrigg. Started off by hanging controls for the "long legs" course. Found a sheep skull for future use as a start triangle. Named it Dolly.
A beautiful day on a treeless, runnable, hilly, and detailed area called Loughrigg. Started off by hanging controls for the "long legs" course. Found a sheep skull for future use as a start triangle. Named it Dolly.
Orienteering 33:30 [3] **** 3.3 km (10:09 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OUOC Lakes Training Camp. Day 1.
After a short break, ran a middle distance course at medium intensity (fast enough that navigation is a challenge, but slow enough so that i shouldn't have to stop at all.) Made a couple of mistakes and got tired on the hills towards the end.
After a short break, ran a middle distance course at medium intensity (fast enough that navigation is a challenge, but slow enough so that i shouldn't have to stop at all.) Made a couple of mistakes and got tired on the hills towards the end.
Orienteering 48:44 [2] 4.06 km (12:00 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
After lunch, shadowing Kat on the same "long legs" course I hanged in the morning. Trying to focus on taking advantage of the visibility and improving distance judgement.
Shadowing (photo by Benjamin Grandey):
Shadowing (photo by Benjamin Grandey):
Sunday Apr 1, 2007 #
Running 25:00 [2] 2.94 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Warm-up/cool-down.
Orienteering race 35:26 [5] *** 5.3 km (6:41 / km) +260m 5:22 / km
spiked:18/23c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
BUSA Relays. I ran for an unofficial Oxford 3rd team, consisting of me and Per Forsberg (no, not the legendary announcer, not even his namesake.) I had the option of also running the 3rd leg if I felt like it, but I didn't feel like it. The relay went on a 1:5000 map of the University of Durham campus and surrounding steep hillside. The first part of the course went through the woods on the hillside, and I had some problems getting used to the scale there, and squandered about 1:40 there on a few controls. I went through spectator control about halfway through the course in 8th, about a minute down on the lead. I passed two guys on the next climb, one more on a run across a large, open moor, and soon found myself chasing the lead pack of three, with one other guy having disappeared somewhere. By now we entered the campus part of the course, and the pace picked up. I spiked the next two controls and then took my own route choice on a long leg, climbing on a trail instead of up a slippery slope. Two controls later, I was with the leaders. The pace picked up again. The SHUOC guy ran to the wrong control and disappeared. The EUOC guy did the same thing just a bit later, and it was down to David Roome and me on the last couple of legs. David punched the last control first and stayed ahead, but it still felt very nice to battle back to the lead pack in the second half of the course. Per ran a very good 2nd leg, and I was almost tempted to go out again on 3rd, but let Kat persuade me that this would have been foolish and unnecessary.
Results: http://www.dur.ac.uk/orienteering.club/busa/classa...
Results: http://www.dur.ac.uk/orienteering.club/busa/classa...